Monday, August 1, 2011

The company plans to slash its workforce by another 12,000 to 13,000 jobs, as part of a plan to squeeze another $1.5 billion from its annual cost base. Word on the street had been that Merck planned to shed more jobs, but these are numbers approaching the 15,000 to 16,000 workforce cuts announced along with the Schering deal, which closed in November 2009.... Merck will have cut about 30% of the workforce it had at that time.

The new round will hit hard in the United States. Some 35% to 40% of the cuts will be concentrated in the company's U.S. operations, a Merck spokesperson told Dow Jones. Layoffs will come at headquarters, in administrative functions, via consolidation of office facilities, and from the ongoing sale and closure of manufacturing plants.